Help teaching beginners

[Haynes28600]

I am a flute teacher of 5th and 6th Grade
students in Massachusetts. We use the Standard of Excellence method book in our
department, however it really doesn''t seem to work well for flute. It works
very well for saxophone, but my flute students always start out slowly and I
have a high drop-out rate. This has prompted me to look at new method books for
flute. I have briefly looked at the Trevor Wye book, but it looked confusing.
Any input on that series would be helpful. My problem with Standard of
Excellence and other books is that I don''t think students should start with
D,C, and Bb. I think they should start with B,A,G and then F and Bb. I know they
start with D,C, and Bb because of common point of reference when playing with
unlike instruments. However, I don''t have that situtation - I only have
flutes during lessons. I picked up Belwin''s Student Instrumental Course and
Alfred''s Learn to Play the Flute, which look good. Belwin has a series of
other books with supplements and etudes that go along with the graded flute
technique books. I used The Universal Flute Method with a 4th Grader this year
and she ate it up. I think the pace was good for her, but maybe not for
everyone. Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts, I''d love to hear them.
Kasey[:praise:]

[AG950Flute]

You may want to look into the Rubank series or
the Wagner book. The Rubank is set in three different levels elementary,
intermediate, and advanced and are separate books. The Wagner book is larger and
works it's way through to advanced. Best of luck!

[Haynes28600]

I'll look into the Wagner books. I generally
try to stay away from the Rubank books until the Advanced methods. I don't
think they have enough varied content for beginners. Just my opinion. Thanks
Courtney!